What It Takes To Be A WoMAN with Kerry Crandell
The culmination of diving into the curious question of, “Who am I?” resulted in Kerry Crandell’s establishment of WoMAN or the Women of Mergers and Acquisition Network. The mission at WoMAN is to enrich the lives of women who work in mergers and acquisitions through three pillars – information, connection, and service. Kerry explains that it’s basically a great group of women in a male-dominated industry that comes together every month. They’re building this great community so that they can share with each other and can also enrich their lives through personal growth, professional growth, and service. Learn more about this great group as Kerry shares how it all started, what it is all about, and how you can qualify to become a member.
What It Takes To Be A WoMAN with Kerry Crandell
We’re so fortunate to have Kerry Crandell on the show. She is the Founder of WoMAN: Women of Mergers and Acquisition Network.
Thank you for having me.
Tell us a little bit about WoMAN, who you serve and what you do.
WoMAN is an acronym for Women of Mergers and Acquisitions Network. Our mission at WoMAN is to enrich the lives of women who work in mergers and acquisitions through our three pillars and that’s information, connection and service. As the name implies, you do have to qualify to become a member of WoMAN. You have to be or you have to identify being a woman and you have to work in or be affiliated with mergers and acquisitions in some form or fashion within your work. We launched in January of 2017.
For the young ladies and women, maybe they’re going, “I don’t know if I’m in that industry or not.” Expand on the folks that are in your group.
All of this is found on the website. I try to do a great job of it. It is Womanglobalgroup.com. As we’re expanding and growing into other markets, we’re actually in the process of figuring out an international domain that we can plug into that but right now that’s where you can go. The categories that we have of WoMAN is very broad and very diverse which is definitely a great thing for us. The first category we have is corporate women. That’s anywhere from a woman business owner who is acquiring companies or the one that has started a business and knows that she wants to exit it and wants to stay informed and connected to the M&A community. The other middle corporate category that we have are a lot of the general counsel and corporate dev team and that sort.
What if it’s a woman that sold a business lately, would they be qualified to be in your group?
Potentially depending on what their role is.
If they were the CEO, Founder of the business and they sold it?
Absolutely, and then they would want to stay involved and connected to the community for sure.
If you’re a corporate officer in a company, let’s say you’re the COO or the CEO of a publicly traded firm, would that be someone that would be qualified to be in your group?
We have a few COO and CEO members as well. Those companies are in the acquisition phase right now. There’s relevancy there but even if they weren’t, it’s basically a great group of women in a male-dominated industry that comes together every month. We’re building this great community so that we can share with each other and we can also enrich our lives through some personal growth or professional growth and through service.
Do you meet up? You have a presentation or a meetup.
We have an event, WoMAN Connect.
If somebody is going, “I don’t know whether I should go or not,” if they’re not a member, what do they do to show up at one of your events?
We cap our membership to 100 of the best in each market. Every member has the ability to invite one qualified guest and that guest can then attend. If that guest is very connected and feels like, “This is my tribe. This is a community that I like,” they can then apply for membership. We analyze it every year to figure out how do we maintain balance, first and foremost. Who are the right people there? The right person there for me, my definition of it are women who have that sense of authenticity. They’re successful at their work, but they want to have that connection with their other women peers in mergers and acquisition to balance it out, to build those more authentic, deeper relationships and contribute, be able to share a lot of their intelligence and their expertise and experience with the group. It’s someone that’s going to be connected, someone that’s going to put as much into it and get as much out of it. That’s who we want to attract.
WoMAN: We want to attract someone that’s going to put as much into it and get as much out of it.
What did you do in the mergers and acquisition space that gives you this insight to start this group? Let’s talk a little bit about your past.
I fell into this happenstance, but I was hired with a local broker and the whole thought process was to specialize. I had to find a specialty vertical that I wanted to focus on. I was initially hired to do public company directors and officers in Denver, Colorado. I had a list of 73 that I could call upon and I laughed and said, “What do you want me to do after next week because there’s not a lot here?” They were like, “We hired you based on you. Find a vertical.” I basically had some friends that were in private equity and mergers and acquisitions was always this sexy, cool industry that I wanted to know more about.
I found a niche within an organization and a blue ocean that we started risk management insurance due to diligence practice within an insurance broker. We were calling on private equity firms when they were acquiring companies. We would go in before they acquired them to do all of their risk management. It was very much in Denver. It was something that they checked off but never did a deep dive. There was a win-win situation there. They knew that they could come to me and my trusted team to go in there, fully analyze it, and give them a report before so that they could be strengthened on that.
To expand on risk management, let’s say I’m the business that you walked into and I’m going like, “Please help me with my risk management,” what are the things that you would do and what would you look at?
The full gamut of it. Anywhere from the executive liability, to the employee benefits, to the retirement plans, to the key man insurance, buy and sell agreements, all of that. We would go in and do that as a team.
That had to be of interest quite a bit.
I loved it at the start. Not only did I take it from a non-existent to one of the top performing verticals within that company in 2008, which is a feat in itself, but it was a great project focus. I’ve got to dive in hot and heavy into these deals, learn a lot and then I was on to the next one. I self-diagnosed myself having career ADD or bored easily, so it was a great environment for me to thrive.
Every single thing that happens has an intention.
If you were to look back and over the companies that you did the deep dive on, if you were to say the top two or three things that they were missing, what comes to your mind?
One was pulling back the curtain and actually taking a look and analyzing the impact that some of these decisions and or challenges I faced. Another one that was interesting was taking one platform company and then doing four bolt-ons in less than eighteen months and how all those pieces fit together and how do you integrate it. That was a learning curve and that was an exciting time. Although probably when I was in it, I wouldn’t have used those words. My clients were the private equity firms and it’s making sure that what they understood from my element of what they were doing in the deal was locked solid, that we were doing the best that we can so that they were comfortable moving forward with that transaction.
For the business owner that’s listening and he goes, “We need somebody to come to do that and take a look because we think that we’re going to be getting ready to exit our business at some point.” What type of resource would they look for in their local market that might have that skill set?
Hopefully, they’re already aligned with a broker that can do that work for them and that’s trusted. If not, always go out there and get a second set of eyes from a different perspective on it. Most of the investment bankers I’ve encountered have taken a more proactive approach to better prepare that element, just that little tiny piece. Most deals, they’re focusing on the finance piece, the numbers. Depending on how long we have, I could go on and on about culture and integration and then what makes them successful. From my little sliver in that, it was just a focus on that one piece and to make sure my clients, the private equity firms, were buying companies and very aware of that risk element.
Part of the reason is to paint the picture for the readers of your experience and exposure to the marketplace. To go to the next step is when you put your events together and you’re trying to change or add to the inventory of experience for your members. What types of things do you take in and do at your get-togethers within your organization to help the members?
That’s even taking a step back, putting aside my past on there within WoMAN. It’s a very different feel. I’m still serving the community of women that work in M&A, but it’s completely different from what I’m doing. That was a factor of getting aligned with who I am and what I’m here to do on this planet in this lifetime and then doing something about it. Our events are very different. We have three pillars: inform, connect and serve. If you think holistic, it’s the head, the heart and the hands. All of our events each month, we alternate between those and they’re very different. Our informed meetings are probably what everyone else is mostly used to. You’re going and you’re learning and you’re being educated on hot topics and industry perspectives that are going to help you be better or more informed in your work within mergers and acquisition.
Panel presentations, talking to women who have sold their businesses and what maybe intricacies they’ve had during certain deals and being a woman from that perspective, how that valued. Our connect events are very different. That’s what we have and that’s all about the heart. That’s how we form deeper, more authentic relationships, not only with each other but within ourselves. We do that through personal development. This is where WoMAN has a unique perspective because my guess is and I’m generalizing, most women have had to fight the fight to get to where they are and to pretty much embrace more of a masculine approach. They’re being inauthentic to advance. I firmly believe and what I’m trying to do is expose these women to other things to personally develop their true authentic selves because there are gifts that women bring to the table that are unique.
Not that they’re better, they’re different and they’re under-valued and more and more they’re becoming under-valued. This is a platform that we can do to bring in certain things, like now it’s all about neuro-linguistic programming, NLP. How do you change your mindset when you’re a woman walking into a boardroom full of men to get to the objective and the results that you want? It’s cool, interesting techniques that you can do about this that we bring to the table. Our third component or pillar is service. That is where we come together as a group and we’d go out to various nonprofits and charities in the community and use our hands to serve.
You got to have that fire to go create a splash and make a ripple.
I also firmly believe in creating this company, when I gave back, it enriched my life so much more but what I found was as a woman running a successful business unit, I never had the time. When I finally had the time, I was overwhelmed with, “How do I serve? How do I give back?” I would waste all that extra time that I had trying to identify something. Within WoMAN, I found making it mindless, all you have to do is show up at this date and time and this is who we’re serving. It’s been great to be able to do that.
For the folks who go, “We would love to have a woman come and help them out with a project,” how can they reach out to you to see if the help that they need is something that you do?
We have an executive steering committee, and an executive steering committee is a group of eight women, two women for each vertical or categories, corporate, private equity, investment banking and professional service providers. That team spends that year focusing on what we do to populate those events. When you apply to become a member of WoMAN, you fill out an online application. There’s one of the questions that says, “In relation to nonprofit or charity work, tell us what you choose to support and why you choose to support that and how do you support it, whether it’s time, talent or treasure.” We take all of this data and put it in and then we take that at the executive steering committee and find these common threads and choose that as the theme for service or for connection or for information.
You had this mad idea and you say, “I’m going to change the planet starting here.” You think about that and in reflecting back when you went home and you said to your spouse, “I’m going to change the planet and I’m starting this way.” What was that thought process like for you?
That was a culmination of about three years of me asking and diving into the curious question of, “Who am I?” Once I tasted that authentic nature of, “Who am I and what is this lifetime all about and how do I want to make an impact?” pieces started falling into place. I felt the discomfort within myself being very successful financially and loving what I did but just that, “What was I missing?” and having the courage as ideas would have come in to take action on those. I would say WoMAN in some form or fashion has been percolating in my mind for three years. I asked the universe to say, “Send me a sign so that it’s not negotiable.” It’s clear and you are now exiting this former life and entering into this new life that you have the vision out for. That happened, my company was acquired. I woke up at [5:00] AM and my phone was just exploding and I read that we were acquired. I knew right then and there that that was my sign.
WoMAN: WoMAN, in some form or fashion, has been percolating in my mind for three years.
Many folks are very interested in the why. Why do people do what they do? What causes them to step off? In particular, when you have some level of success and you go, “It’s not enough,” you get to the point where it’s not about the money anymore.
What is your currency? My currency switched from money to time. I had all the money that I needed abundantly in there and I’m blessed. I’m grateful for that, but time was what I felt. I didn’t have enough time in the day. I have two young children now and I see how fast they grow up and it’s like, “Time is my currency.” You see the world from a different perspective, through a different lens. Consciously changing that currency from money to time to make a positive impact, that was my driving force.
There’s going to be a population of women that are reading this. There is this, “I’d like to have this in my community.” In looking at that, there was a timeframe between idea formation and execution. What was the timeframe and how many folks did you have signed up in the very beginning?
Myself, and about seven other women, had what’s called a focus group. We sat down and were like, “This is missing in our community.” I’m raising my hand and said, “I’m going to lead the charge but ladies, I need your help.” I say, ten women, because there were some outside. Those ten women, we all reached out to our networks and said, “We’re going to have a kickoff event. We’re going to share with you the concept of what we want to do, but we need to make sure that you all are in and this is something that we want to do.” We held that kickoff event in September and more people showed up than I have ever known were women in mergers and acquisition in Denver.
They all were magnetic to it and wanted to get going, “How can we support you? How can we grow this?” We grew, I don’t want to say effortlessly because there was a lot of effort, but we grew in flow and with ease to a little over 80 members in that first year, which was insane for me. That proved to me that not only was this concept important, that people valued it and that there were more people than I even imagined that were attracted to it. That was enough fuel in my fire to keep it going and commit to it to next year. How do we tweak it? How do we make it better?
Were you surprised at the need?
I knew there was a hunger and there was a need and there was a space that there was a void that I could help fill, but the attraction and how fast it happened was very shocking to me.
I’m in another marketplace where you’re not at. I want to take and pursue setting this up. What are the steps that a woman would need to take to pursue this?
Reach out to me. Share the reason why you might want WoMAN and we’ve been fielding calls and emails in Womanglobalgroup.com. We are because there have been at least five other cities that have reached out to me to say, “What’s going on? What are your intentions with this? How do we get women in Minneapolis?” We’re building the playbook and the criteria. We’re actively working on that between now and the end of the year. My hope is if we’re talking again in January that we have the playbook done, we have the criteria set, we have identified the five national partners that want to help us roll out from a financial standpoint, and we’re rocking and rolling and we’re growing. If I were to carry that on to three years, I want to say we’re at least in five other markets in three years, maybe even more. I don’t know, I’m open to being surprised. The first step is to share your interest. The second step is we’ll have dialogue and we’ll work with that so that we can help position and make it a wild success to roll it. Obviously, there are going to be certain criteria that you’re going to need, but with the model that we used here in Denver could certainly translate into other markets.
Time is my currency.
When you have some of your meetings and the women are leaving and there’s typically some buzz or commentary that goes on as they’re going out the door, what do you think are the key takeaways from a positive standpoint are from the women that come to these events?
It’s a multitude. One is I judge it by its success. Did I see people connecting? Did I see smiles on their faces? I would say for me, my success is did I leave with some source of inspiration? Was I either inspired or inspiring for someone else? That’s my barometer of success. I know every single person’s going to have something different. Someone might come in, “I had a challenge and I met a woman that was able to help and support me.” That could be her win. Another one would be like, “I needed to decompress and have a glass of wine with my peers because this deal is killing me.” Maybe that’s a success. There’s a multitude of different things, but we created this space to have a community of women that know each other and get each other but diverse enough that we can all share and better and enrich our lives.
We’ve all been to the meetings where you go, “How do you connect?” and you go, “It’s challenging to connect in the meeting.” Do you do anything in particular to facilitate the connection at the events?
We structure them and every event’s different, so I’ll use Connect because that’s what we’re having. We come together and about the first half an hour we settle in, get in our space, connect and then we start the meeting and that’s me. I’ll talk about the updates and such and talk about the next event that’s going on there. Then we take time to be present. We turn off our phones and I walk us through at the Connect events and a meditation, a five-minute stillness practice to breathe deep, create the space, let go of the past, let go of the future and be here now. That is very powerful as you move into the next presentation or whatever and share.
As you are in the front of the group and you go through this exercise, what’s the most obvious thing that you notice after the meditation period?
At some points, I will get head to toe goosebumps. Every cell in my body wakes up, which means a presence is there for me. When I look around, it’s this calm, relaxed space that is created, but it’s not something I’ve created. It’s something we’ve collectively created. That is magical for me. These are the gifts that I get every month. As much as WoMAN is for them, I get so much out of this that it’s what my life is about at this moment.
I think about the resonation of the event and collective wisdom of the crowd. You see that and within the network, clearly there’s a need for collaboration among many disciplines. Clearly, there’s a need in the M&A space and private equity space to deal with the business owner and serve their needs as well. I applaud you for this effort and your growth and success and for the upcoming event.
I had an idea and I had the courage to put it into action. I’ve birthed this business into the world and I’ve got her to walking and this girl wants to run, she wants to sprint. I’ve done my part of what it is and now I’m looking to build a community that can take her to the next level. I don’t want to do this alone. I’m hopefully attracting and being very purposeful, bringing the right people in that can take it to the next level. I firmly believe this movement, this thing that we’re creating can touch so many more lives not only in this country but in the world.
For the women that may be reading this, if you’re remotely interested, the worst thing you can do is not reach out. You can find Kerry on her website. Explore and make the call. What’s the risk? There is no risk.
Just for not taking action. Opting out, that is the risk.
For you and looking back over your career, if you were to point to a book or a publication that you read that’s changed your opinion or outlook, what’s one that comes to mind that’s a favorite for you?
Your Life, Your Legacy: An Entrepreneur Guide to Finding Your Flow
A multitude, but I’ll break it down into just the business aspect. A book I’m reading now is called Your Life, Your Legacy. It’s an entrepreneur’s guide of understanding who you are and how you’re meant to matter and the legacy that you leave. I read that and it’s a good feeling like I’m grounded but my head is exploding. That’s what I would list right now. There’s another one, Whitney Walpole who’s a local of Denver and a great friend and mentor and beautiful person. She published a book called The Sweet Spot. It was literally the work that she’s done in identifying who you are authentically and how you’re meant to matter. I would say that’s the book that kickstarted all of this.
Looking back over with the numerous endeavors that you’ve taken in the past to get here, there may have been a failure somewhere along the way. Can you look back at one of those points where you had a failure but it basically set the platform for you to succeed later?
I struggle with the word failure.
Let’s say it’s not a failure but the outcome wasn’t as what you expected.
To me, every moment in life is a learning opportunity and it’s having the connection there to it. Let’s say when I had an expectation and it didn’t happen. Maybe changing my perspective on the word failure. Every single thing that happens has an intention, and it’s whether or not I’m awake enough to connect to what happened here, how do I feel, how is that feeling resonating, and what is the impact from this point forward that I want. The word failure in itself by me changing what the definition of failure is and allowing that to reverberate with the inside of me.
Let’s say I had something and the outcome was not what I desire. When you think about that, do you go through a process mentally? What caused it? What were the factors or what am I going to do differently? Do you do that thought process when that happens to you?
I do and it’s all internal. After I internalized it, I share it with somebody over a glass of wine or coffee. The process that I have right now at this moment is, “Why am I triggered? What’s here for me? How am I feeling? Where’s that in my body? It’s there. It’s fear. Fear is here. What does this fear here for?” I try to diagnose it and be like, “I’m scared of this. What does that mean? Is that what I consciously want to choose moving forward? Can I take what scared me or what was fear and use that then as my energy source to make a different outcome for the future.” That’s my process.
For many folks, they get stuck in the spot.
I do too. Trust me, I get in it. It’s not a quick process.
It’s a learning event to figure out what’s on the other side of fear.
There are two things in this world: fear and love.
You get done and for many, you go, “How can I profit from the experience, in learning or otherwise?” There are many different ways. That is your way that plays through. If you’re out there making an impact in the local community and you could put an ad on page one of the papers sharing the message of WoMAN, what would it say and why?
This is in the future because I’m embracing into that one. It was, “Here’s WoMAN, feel her roar.” Maybe that’s what the title would be and under that would be, “We’ve grown and expanded. We’ve built this amazing community not only in the United States but within the world. We gathered together and we are embracing what it is to be a woman in this industry and the value that we bring. We are heard and we are seen and we are valued for the unique qualities that we present in this niche.”
It occurred to me as you were talking, you said you’d been effectively had the meetings for a year or plus. Are you getting feedback from the members saying, “The things that I picked up in the organization helped me?”
Yes, I get love notes in the mail. If you would have told me that I exchanged my abundant paycheck for love notes in the mail, I would take the love notes every single time.
The privilege of a lifetime is finding out who you are and living in that.
What do you think is the top impact you’ve made?
We have probably resulted in making connections for people to find their next journey that was in more alignment to their true self. We have helped women get a paid board seat because someone heard of WoMAN and did a Google search and reached out to me because they wanted a woman on their board and a woman that had an M&A experience. This person found us through and we actually placed one of our members in that seat. We have inspired a woman to leave her corporate job and start a business more aligned with who she is and what the impact she wants to make on the world. This is an invitation because I know there’s more than what I know of and so I’m inviting our members and the people that we connect with to share with me because this is the fuel for my fire. When I get these things and I get these love notes, it drives me further to make it bigger.
Success breeds success and as you see other folks, it gives them the courage to take the step, “What’s next? “That’s a key component to the value prop for what you are doing. For you looking over the time for women and you allocated your time to get this done, what do you think was the best return on the allocation of your time in pursuing success with WoMAN?
It is that impact, that source of inspiration. If you take the o in woman, if you looked at it, do you know what it is? It’s a ripple effect. It’s one drop that spreads out. If a result from my actions encouraged to launch this organization into the world has impacted even one life, for a person to step into their truth and their true calling within this lifetime, it’s mission accomplished.
When you look back and there’s another organization that wanted to do this in their community and there was a key component of what you put together that caused this to happen, what was it? Was it the Board? Was it the advisory group? What do you think the key tipping point was?
Someone who desires to build a community or create a space within their community that’s driving impact, that’s driving positive influence. You’ve got to have that fire. I want more Kerrys in the world. Not me, but what I hold and the vision that I have, I want to find more of those in other communities and give them the tools necessary to go create their splash to make their ripple.
If I was to ask your friends and they said the most unusual habit that you have or what others may consider out of the ordinary that helped you get WoMAN off the ground, what is it?
Why am I weird? I don’t know. Maybe because I’m not willing to go with the status quo. Maybe I embrace that quirkiness to say what’s on my mind and I don’t care. If something needs to be said, something is going to be said. That’s what I have control over. How you react to that is none of my things. Maybe that’s what’s weird about me because a lot of people are like, “I can’t believe you said that.”
Candor sometime is not highly appreciated.
It’s the intent too. Maybe I’m different. I don’t say things to hurt someone. I say things because I see something. If I say something and somebody gets hurt by something that I say, my intention was never to hurt you. Maybe my intention was for you to see something from my perspective and allow you to grow. I’m weird and I’m okay with it.
We are heard, seen, and valued for the unique qualities that we present in our niche.
What protocol do you think that you put inside of this organization that has impacted its trajectory?
It’s not me, it’s the people that I’ve chosen to align with and giving them the space to be able to put their input and put their mark on it as well and us collectively together embracing the mission.
Do you think that first Board that you put together, the advisory of your steering committee, do you think that was a key component of what you were doing?
Huge. In the beginning, and this is what I’ve learned as becoming an entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial world, it’s freaking lonely. I know myself enough that I’m 80% social, 20% individual. I thrive when I’m in the company of others. By starting this business and doing this, I was in my office, on the computer doing a lot of things and I would be like, “I’m too alone.” By forming these committees and allowing that space for them to share and us to work together in comradery has moved the needle. Now I’m in the process of forming the growth council, an advisory board, as we grow and expand, and inviting others to come in that I see a skill set that I’m like, “I don’t have that, but I want that,” and inviting them to come in. This will be the next trajectory. Instead of a 180, it’s going to be a 360.
For you looking out and there’s a new woman filling in some of the locations that want to put a WoMAN into their location, what advice would you offer to her as a first-time organizer of WoMAN in their community?
Take stock of your network, especially women that are in your network. I would say be aware of what you want and why you want it and who you are. When you can answer those to me or the committee or whomever else and we feel like it’s the right thing or the synergy is there, we’re going to give you every tool necessary to succeed and will be there. I’ll be there personally by your side to launch it and I’m so excited about that. That is my evolution within this. Taking an idea, having a vision, having the courage to launch it, putting the right team in place, now she wants to grow. I don’t know if my qualities are best served in the growth and expansion, but I do know my qualities are best served and inspiring those that are going to do it.
WoMAN: Be aware of what you want and why you want it and who you are.
For you, if people were to think, what’s the common misconception about you running WoMAN as an organization?
I don’t know.
A lot of folks had the notion about people that organize businesses or CEOs, that they know everything.
I don’t know everything. I would hope my peers and constituents don’t think I know everything because I’m going on record, I don’t know everything.
Looking back over the past nineteen months, what would or should you have said no to?
I’m going through it right now, so it’s a little too fresh but taking my eyes off the prize. I am a growth junkie self admittedly. When opportunities come in, especially when I’m inspired, it is extremely hard for me to say no. It is extremely hard for me to not pivot or turn. I have, I would say at any given week, at least three. It’s very hard for me to stay grounded and honor that. I’m still going through the process. Maybe that’s what they say is like, “Kerry, she’s so inspired and then she’ll go down this path.” I’m working through staying in the now and honoring what can be and making sure I feed the right channels.
For you, you get organized for your day in running this organization, what type of personal self-talk do you use in the course of the day to keep you focused in present for WoMAN?
It’s changing and it’s evolving but in the beginning it was, “Me with two shining souls a day.” That was literally the one thing I attribute to the growth and success early on with WoMAN. I didn’t care who you were and what. I had a set calendar and I wanted to connect with two shining souls a day and it was insane who I was connected to and why. I have gone to coffee meetings like, “I don’t know why we’re here other than such and such said we should meet. Tell me about yourself.” That was so incredibly powerful for me. I have fallen off that practice. Now I feel, “What’s driving me now?” What’s driving me now is the clarity building that playbook. When I give some of my time and energy to building that playbook and still connect with people and then being intentional about those connections, instead of any two shining souls now, it’s maybe two shining souls that are connected to the mission of WoMAN and how can they impact and drive us further. Maybe that’s my new one.
If you were to look over your inventory of quotes that you like, one that you used in your organization or you used personally, what’s your favorite?
I struggled with the word favorite because there are so many. What I do is I change the tagline on my email, and right now it’s Marcus Aurelius. He’s full of those. What’s hitting me right now at this moment is that Joseph Campbell quote. What I’m hearing and resonates with me is, “The privilege of a lifetime is finding out who you are and living in that.” I’m sure I’m butchering it but it’s to that effect.
If I was to talk to your colleagues and the folks in WoMAN and ask them what’s the one thing that Kerry does better than anybody on the planet, what would they say?
A lot of women have told me this. They said, “Kerry, I cannot help but be in your presence when you are in your zone to be inspired and want to change the world.” It’s almost like I have this ability to transfer my energy by me being in line with my true self and then being in the present with someone. They’re going to leave and walk away a little energized. I also think this element of joy, like my whole life, is about to be joyful and in connection.
It’s a true pleasure to get to spend time with you and chat about the growth of this new member, WoMAN, and we look forward to reconnecting in the future on another podcast and hear about success in other markets.
If I may share my deepest and sincerest gratitude for you and this work, in this action that you’re taking to capture all of this and creating the legacy, my sincerest gratitude and appreciation.
Links Mentioned:
- WoMAN: Women of Mergers and Acquisition Network
- WomanColorado.com
- WoMAN Connect
- Your Life, Your Legacy
- The Sweet Spot
About Kerry Crandell
An authentic, balanced, and enthusiastic business professional who has recently embarked in an entrepreneurial journey to serve a deserving group of women in a male-dominated industry. Powered by an admirable mission to enrich the lives of women who work in Mergers & Acquisitions through information, connection, and service.
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The post What It Takes To Be A WoMAN with Kerry Crandell appeared first on My podcast website.